Historia y ansiedades de la crítica de los cines africanos a través de la persona y la obra de Med Hondo

Abstract

With the distance permitted by the passage of years and the perspectives opened up by the contemporary transformation of critical-theoretical paradigms in African cinema studies, we have arrived at an ideal moment for approaching the discourses that have arisen around the Mauritanian director Med Hondo. The history of criticism, theory, and the actual history of African cinemas are interwoven in the image/stigma of the rebellious and radical Marxist director, which has accompanied Hondo since his successful first film Soleil Ô (1969) and has clung to him up to the present day. An examination of the positions taken with respect to this director in academic publications relating to African cinemas reveals the anxieties and materialist provenance of specialized critics and theorists, and leads one to a recognition of the decisive effect that academic discourse has exercised on the diffusion, understanding, and reception of his work.